Franklin Onimu Kiribwa. David Ochieng Oundo. Victor Juma Okoth Otieno. Winnie Karimi Kinyua. Stephen Ochieng Onyango. All they wanted to do on October 23, 2011, exactly 13 years ago, was to just watch the biggest match in the country at Nyayo National Stadium, the Mashemeji Derby pitting Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards.
Instead, it was not the case. The five died in a stampede at the stadium’s Gate 2 that fateful, rainy evening as Gor Mahia went on to win 1-0 courtesy of Collins Okoth’s goal from the spot.
David was 34 years old, Victor 27, Winnie 21, Franklin was to turn 28 the following weekend, and Stephen was just 24 awaiting graduation in November 2010 at Maseno University.
At 2:29 PM on that day, Franklin made a Facebook post, detailing how he looked forward to the match. ‘Si tukutane stadi…… naona mtu akiumizwa na INGWE vinoma,” (Let us meet at the stadium. I foresee AFC Leopards beating someone thoroughly) he wrote. Little did he know that this would be his last post. A premonition.
Armed with his ticket, Franklin lined up with the rest waiting to get in but the long queues plus the rain did not help as fans grew impatient with the tickets on their hands. The next thing; a disaster.
His ticket was found intact in his trouser pocket. Those who have attended a match locally where one has to buy a ticket know how the ticket stewards disfigure the piece of paper. His was as clean as new as he queued to get in. It was ticket number 0010352.
13 years later, the Nyayo Five have been forgotten. Their families do not know of any justice. There is nothing in place to remember them. Not even a memorial has been built at the Nyayo National Stadium to act as a constant reminder of what happened, and what could happen again, with safety laxity.
The government, through the Ministry of Sports and the Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB) gave just Ksh 30,000 to each family of the deceased to help with burial arrangements. And that was it.
“We in the Ministry have already condoled with the families, relatives and friends of the fans who lost their lives during the incident. In view of this, the Ministry, through the Sports Stadia Management Board, has, on compassionate grounds, given each family Kshs30,000 to assist in burial arrangements. The money has been given to the next of kin, and a lot of other stakeholders met yesterday and did also contribute towards this need,” part of the ministerial statement delivered by the Assistant Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports at that time Kabando wa Kabando in Parliament on November 03, 2010 read.
A joint requiem mass was held for the five at the Nyayo National Stadium on November 03, 2010. Then they were forgotten.
As the memories fade, the quest for justice for the families of the bereaved seems to have hit a wall.
An inquest conducted under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code to determine whether any of the parties involved in organizing the match would be held accountable hit a dead end when the court delivered a bizarre ruling.
In the inquest, the court on April 18, 2019, ruled that the deceased died in a fire in his rented house instead of the stampede at the stadium and therefore found no particular individual to blame.
This was despite different witnesses including the Lang’ata OCP and the Chief Government Pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor telling the inquest that the death of the five was occasioned by the stampede as per court documents about the inquest seen by Mozzart Sport.
It was confusing that the ruling talked about a fire in a rental and not the stampede at the stadium, and then went on to rule on the death of just one person as opposed to that of the five.
A Civil Case that had been filed on behalf of one of the deceased at the stampede, Franklin Onimu, (High Court Civil Case Number 455 of 2011) was dismissed by the court in October 2022 for want of prosecution.
The defendants in the matter, the Football Kenya Limited, the Kenyan Premier League, the Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB), Ticket Masters, Gor Mahia, and Supersport all played blame games.
On their part, the league organisers, Kenyan Premier League, faulted the Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB) and the host club, Gor Mahia for negligence thus failing to ensure the safety of the fans.
The KPL blamed the SSMB for failing to open all the gates to ease the flow of people into the stadium, “failing to properly and effectively manage the events that took place in the stadium as occupiers”, and “failing to designate/mark the seat numbers in the stadium hence causing the stampede.”
In the case of Gor Mahia, KPL pointed out that the club failed on the general duties of the host club to ensure the safety of the fans. They were specific on the decision by K’Ogalo to sell tickets at the venue as opposed to a different location and in advance. Further, they posited that Gor failed to deploy enough security personnel at the different entry points to ease the flow of spectators.
In the defence of Gor Mahia, chairman Ambrose Dickson Otieno Rachier (ADOR), denied that the club neglected their duty as the host to ensure enough security and safety within and without the stadium.
Instead, he told the court in his statement that the “deceased precipitated his death for he was negligent in failing to take any or any precautionary measures for his own safety and steer clear of the rowdy fans.”
He went on to state that “the deceased also took part and/or otherwise participated in boisterous activities, failed to take precautionary measures to steer clear of rowdy youths and carelessly exposed himself to a precarious match between two rival football teams,” adding that “the deceased consciously decided to submit to the risk that occasioned his death”
Just three days ago, four people died in yet another stampede at the Kiprugut Chumo Stadium, formerly the Kericho Green Stadium, as they awaited to get in for the 2023 Mashujaa Day Celebrations.
The Kenya Football Stadia Safety and Security Survey Report put together three months after the Nyayo incident by G4S after an audit on Nyayo, Kasarani, City, Hope Centre, Thika, and Mombasa Municipal Stadia laid out some recommendations which up to date have not yet been implemented fully.
The report called for the establishment of a control room in the said stadia and the installation of a public address system to ease communication as well as the installation of CCTV cameras to monitor crowd movement.
Further, the report suggested that tickets should not be sold on match days at the match venues, something that has not been implemented to date. On top of that, it offered that tickets be coloured differently with gate numbers included to guide the fans.
To date, little has been done to ensure the safety of fans on match days. Tickets are sold on match days at the match venues, a ticking time bomb with fans starting to find their way back to the stadia.
The football fraternity should come together and commemorate those who died in Nyayo, while at the same time enhancing safety measures to ensure that such a thing does not happen again.
In the Hillsborough report, Lord Justice Taylor pointed out that the Hillsborough incident ‘should not be regarded as a freak occurrence, incapable of happening elsewhere …Complacency is the enemy of safety’, and so could the Nyayo incident.
